Federation of Trade Unions Burma

Responsibilities & Rights

International Contact

Burma Office - Japan 101-0062 3F, Sohyo Kaikan 3-2-11, Kanda-Surugadai Chiyoda-Ku Tokyo Japan Tel: 81 3 5296 3010 Fax: 81 3 5296 7903

Statement on "the Labor Organizations Law"

Date: 30 September, 2011. For decades, the Federation of Trade Unions-Burma (FTUB) has worked with the Burmese workers, the international trade union movement, and the ILO constituents to stop violations of fundamental labour rights. The FTUB has particularly focused on freedom of association and collective bargaining, working to ensure full respect of Convention 87 in Burma, protecting the trade union's freedom of association and right to collective bargaining. It is in this context that we today express our hope that the binds of worker repression in Burma are being loosened, and that the fundamental human right of workers to freely associate and form independent labour unions is starting to take root in our country. The approval of the Labour Organizations Law may have set the path of positive and constructive change. The FTUB recognizes the efforts of the Thein Sein government and of the Parliament responding to the international trade union and ILO norms. However, the FTUB underlines that there are trade unionist and workers rights activists still in jail and the fundamental structure of such law, while seeming to represent a step forward, sets obstacles and includes very ambiguous provisions that will undermine from the roots the independence, pluralism, and powers of trade unions, as well as the right to collective bargaining and to strike. These fundamental issues might have been overcome if the present government, had decided to open a genuine dialogue with the legitimate workers representatives of the country organized within the international trade union movement and with the workers group of the ILO, instead of an undisclosed drafting consultation with the Myanmar Chamber of Commerce and the ILO office. If, as declared, the present government, sincerely wants to promote freedom and democracy and decent work for men and women of Burma, the new law should recognize that the right to establish or join a trade union must be subject only to the rules of the organization concerned, and should not require any authorization or approval from the Chief Register or any other authority. The exercise of such power by an instrument of the State undermines the fundamental right of freedom of association. The provisions of the law should prohibit interference in the organization, constitution, procedures, structure, and finances of the trade unions. This interference undermines from the beginning the workers' freedom to organize. The other provisions should not set limitations on the formation of trade unions from the workplace upwards and in specific sectors such as armed forces or police. ILO jurisprudence requires that such exclusions be defined in a restrictive way, recognizing the rights of civilian workers in those sectors.
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Finally, the law does not clearly recognize the right of the labour organizations to collectively bargain and sign collective agreements and sets an unbalanced right between the employers' right to lock out and the workers' rights in case of strike. The law also gives power to public authorities to transform a normal economic activity into an essential service in case of strike. At this point, we reiterate only our hope that the present government will agree to a tripartite dialogue that involves the ILO, the workers and the employers group representatives for the development of a comprehensive labour law that ensures both in word and in practice not only an unimpeded right to freely form and join independent labour unions, but that also foster collective bargaining, legitimize and protect that practice and the consequent collective agreements. The FTUB calls on the government to repeal the aforementioned provisions as well as previous laws that prohibit the right to assemble such as Order Nos. 2/88 and 6/88, as well as the Unlawful Association Act- 1908 and to ensure an effective constitutional and legislative framework for the full and effective exercise of trade union rights. The FTUB also calls on the ILO to set up specific transparent and inclusive consultations to avoid that any new law, instead of constituting a step forward toward democratization of the country, becomes a further obstacle on the way toward full respect of human and workers' rights. Contact: General Secretary Asst Gen Secretary U Maung Maung Dr. Zaw Win Aung - 001 1 571 234 9258 - 91 987 157 8569